#159 Pinky Swearing | Matthew 5:33-37

Welcome to Episode #159 of Way of the Bible podcast. This is our seventh of eight episodes in our Twentieth mini-series entitled, Sermon on the Mount. On today’s episode we’ll be hearing Jesus teach on Pinkie Swearing as it relates to Kingdom of Heaven living.

Given this is our seventh episode in this mini-series, and some listeners are just joining us, let me do a quick recap and then get right to our text for today. Jesus began his ministry immediately following his forty-day wilderness wandering, fast, and temptation by the devil which had immediately followed his baptism in the Jordan River by John the Baptist.

Jesus reveals the heart of his ministry message in Matthew 4:17 – From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. You will find the rest of the book of Matthew ties into this foundational teaching of Jesus. Again, for repetition, this foundational teaching was, Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand. 

Jesus then calls his first disciples to join him as he begins teaching in synagogues throughout all Galilee, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. Jesus was a walking Miracle Working Extravaganza. His ministry is described simply in Matthew 4:23-24 – So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them. 25 And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan. Jesus became a very bid deal.

We then see at the beginning of Matthew 5, Jesus goes up on a mountain side with his disciples. As Jesus sees the people approaching from below, he teaches his disciples a primer on the kingdom of heaven. Specifically, what life in the kingdom of heaven was to be like. He began with what we call the beatitudes and then addressed specific topics one at a time. These have included the disciples being Salt and Light, Christ came to fulfill the law and unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees you will never enter the kingdom of heaven (Matt 5:20). Speaking of righteousness, Jesus then addresses anger, lust, and divorce.

We’ve spent the first six episodes of this min-series on each of these topics beginning with the beatitudes being our first and divorce being our last. I noted as we began these episodes that life in the kingdom of heaven would be life in the will of God. And that God’s will is reflected in his name revealed to Moses in Exodus 34:6-7 – The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

We then looked at each topic and how God’s name was reflected in Jesus’ topical comments and observations. God’s name is also inclusive in our topic for today, Pinkie Swearing or as it is put in the text, taking an oath.

 So here we go. Matthew 5:33-37 –  “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ 34 But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.

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